Letter to the editor

Dear HCN, I’m writing in response to the letters about mountain bikes in wilderness areas (HCN, 4/14/03: Be careful what you ask for). I am an avid hiker/backpacker, mountain biker and horse owner and am conscientious about my actions in whatever mode of transport I use. I’ve seen destruction and rude behavior by all these […]

Dear HCN, Jim Hasenauer makes the basis for a reasoned argument in his piece “Let bikers in, and we’ll stand behind wilderness” (HCN, 3/3/03: Let bikers in, and we’ll stand behind wilderness), but loses his focus as he perpetuates a number of fallacies in his argument to repeal the wilderness bicycle ban. Hasenauer cites that […]

Dear HCN, Sorry, but this is one of the most ridiculous debates I know of (HCN, 3/3/03: Get off and walk — wilderness is for wildlife) (HCN, 3/3/03: Let bikers in, and we’ll atand behind wilderness). Mountain bikers in the wilderness? I am a llama packer. Our worst problem is people who bring poorly behaved […]

Dear HCN,In her writings, Terry Tempest Williams always challenges her readers to think and to act in new responsible ways or face some inevitably dire consequences. In the same voice, she confidently reassures and comforts those same afflicted readers. Her recent essay, “Engagement in a time of terror,” however, left me cold, at first (HCN, […]

Dear HCN, I am responding to Greg Hanscom’s editorial referring to the lofty ideal that the mission for wildlife biologists is to work themselves out of a job (HCN, 3/31/03: Dear Friends). It seems to me that wildlife biologists are fair game for everyone. If we advocate some sort of active management that the environmental […]

Dear HCN, There is evidently some lingering confusion regarding the Clark County, Nev., public-lands bill which was signed into law at the end of the last Congress. Given the huge, explosive population growth in Las Vegas and Henderson, and the development which is a consequence of this growth, the non-wilderness provisions of the bill – […]

Dear HCN, I am concerned that the mountain-biking community may be starting down the same trail already taken by many outdoorsmen. Hunters and fishermen, many of whom truly care about the environment, strongly support the Bush administration, due in large part to the emotional issue of gun control. The administration has betrayed them with unprecedented […]

Dear HCN, As both a mountain biker and a supporter of the idea of wilderness areas, I read your “Writers on the Range” debate on the subject of mountain bikes in wilderness areas with great interest (HCN, 3/3/03: The Wild Card). While I support the idea of allowing mountain biking in wilderness areas, I think […]

Dear HCN, I read, with bemused interest, the vaunted “face-off’ between Michael Carroll and Jim Hasenauer over allowing mountain bikes in wilderness areas (HCN, 3/3/03: The Wild Card). My puzzlement was engendered by the comments of Hasenauer. He explains that his pleasure is derived from “pedaling through wild places, experiencing the views, the changing colors […]

Dear HCN, As a dedicated mountain bike enthusiast and wilderness preservation advocate, I take keen interest in the divergent opinions expressed by Carroll and Hasenauer in “Do mountain bikes belong in the wilderness” (HCN, 3/3/03: The Wild Card). I frequently ruminate over both sides of this debate when enjoying wilderness outings, by foot, in designated […]

Dear HCN, I appreciated the debate offered on both sides of the mountain bike issue (HCN, 3/3/03: The Wild Card). I have owned or managed outdoor-related retail businesses most of my life in all the beautiful parts of the country. One of my sons still makes his living running a bike shop. Since our livelihood […]

Dear HCN, While I applaud High Country News for sharing the recent success of Nevada wilderness advocates, and for reminding its readers of the approaching 40th anniversary of the landmark Wilderness Act, (HCN, 3/3/03: The Wild Card), I was very disappointed by your characterization of the Campaign for America’s Wilderness, and its executive director, Mike […]

Dear HCN, In response to your cover story, “Tinkering with nature,” (HCN, 3/31/03: Tinkering with nature), one must remember that Animal Damage Control, now masquerading as Wildlife Services, was set up in the 1930s at the instigation of livestock operators for the sole purpose of killing coyotes, lions, bears and bobcats for the ranchers. (Wolves […]

Dear HCN, Tom McNamee’s predator-prey article is one of the finest pieces on the subject of predators and predator control I have ever read (HCN, 3/31/03: Tinkering with nature). Typically writers who tackle this highly controversial issue are biased either for or against predators. Such articles seldom shed light on the issue, but do generate […]

Dear HCN, I am deeply disappointed in HCN’s misrepresentation of the mission and efforts of Wilderness Watch (HCN, 3/3/03: The Wild Card). Contrary to what was reported, Wilderness Watch does not work to undo any special provisions that were “grandfathered” by Congress into wilderness legislation. The Wilderness Act itself allows a number of special exceptions […]

Dear HCN, Since when is standing firm on fundamental wilderness principles seen as counter to those very principles? “The wild card” by Matt Jenkins (HCN, 3/3/03″ The Wild Card) portrayed Wilderness Watch as an organization more concerned about “purity” than reality. The reality is: They seem to be the only organization that has the courage […]

Dear HCN, The article on the 40th anniversary of the Wilderness Act (HCN, 3/3/03: The Wild Card) gave readers the impression that, until recently, conservationists always advocated multi-area wilderness legislative packages, that the supposed slowdown in wilderness designation is something new, and that compromises of the Wilderness Act have been routine (and desirable) since 1964. […]

Dear HCN, Thank you for the article on Nevada wilderness (HCN, 3/3/03: The Wild Card). Many of us promoting and protecting wilderness in Nevada didn’t know how much was being traded off. Thanks to your intrepid author, we do now. I’m dismayed that the bill promotes development and that more is proposed in exchange for […]

Dear HCN, Poor Senator Harry Reid. He says if he were king, he’d have lots of wilderness, but he had to compromise in his recently passed Nevada “wilderness” bill (HCN, 3/3/03: The Wild Card). Fortunately, there were bright spots in the legislation for some of Harry’s friends, who got free or cheap land through numerous […]

Dear HCN, I read with great interest the article about Mesa del Sol, “Project mixes suburbs with nature preserve” (HCN, 2/3/03: Project mixes suburbs with nature preserve). The article failed to elaborate one aspect of this “community of 100,000 people, living amid open space and restored rangeland”: It’s also located next to a Cold War […]